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 Final Fantasy VI was released in Japan for the Super Famicom in April of 1994. Toward the end of that year, it was released in the West as Final Fantasy III, due to three games in the series not having made it overseas. A massive success at the time, it went on to win multiple awards for its gameplay, presentation, and story. Today, it is still considered one of the titans of the genre, and many fans consider it the greatest role-playing game ever made. But is it really? I enjoy the game. I owned it as a kid, and after my copy was lost I saved my money to buy a new one. I've played it several times since then, and I know it pretty well. But as I've grown up and played it so much, I've also come to recognize its flaws. I'm not talking about the bugs (I actually think those are a bit overblown), but rather the actual storytelling and graphical presentation. I know there are plenty of people who are going to disagree with, and even take exception to, that stance, but that's why I've made this thread. This Let's Play is my argument. This will be a purely screenshot-based Let's Play, since I lack the technical expertise for videos and, frankly, the game doesn't really need them. I intend to be informative enough for those unfamiliar with the game to follow along, while still giving veterans something to enjoy. I'll also offer commentary on the game's design, particularly where I think it falls short. I'll aim for an weekly updates, but depending on how busy life gets I may have to cut down on that. Also, since I'm playing the SNES version, I'll be referring to it by its original English number (3). Spoilers? This is a massively popular twenty-four-year-old game. While I don't doubt that there are those who haven't played it, I think we're past the statute of limitations in that regard. Spoil away. Updates Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Bonus: NPC Equipment Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 5-Headed Snake God fucked around with this message at 10:42 on Sep 17, 2018 |
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Aug 2, 2018 00:13
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(Reserved just in case.)
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Aug 2, 2018 00:13
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Chapter 1 After the title screen, you're normally treated to a screen that lets you pick a save file to load up, but since I'm playing this fresh, it jumps right to the intro.  There are outside materials that talk about the game's backstory: the War of the Magi that took place 1,000 years prior, as well as a short conversation held by a pair of soldiers and their mute companion, whom we'll meet in a moment. Curiously, the game itself contains no such lore, which is the first of many things about the game that I find disappointing. The game actually begins with a credit roll and a shot of these mechs (which we later learn are Magitek Armor) trudging through the snow, followed by in-game shots of their arrival in town.  The two soldiers, Vicks and Wedge, decide to put their mystery companion, a girl, on point. She bears a striking resemblance to the moogles from previous games in the series, but this is likely a throwback, as moogles got a complete redesign for FF3.  Here's out intrepid party (you can see what I mean about the girl). Putting characters in the back row halves the physical attack damage that they both deal and receive, but since no one will be attacking during this early segment, everyone may as well sit back. While I'm on the menu, I also turn down the battle speed (it makes screenshotting easier), and change the background.  Hm. Maybe not.  Yeah, this is probably better.  Anyway, we walk into town and are immediately accosted by the local militia, who don't care for having heavily-armed mechs in their town. Fair enough.  And here we are in our first battle. The guards look pretty weird, more like evil wizards than human soldiers. This is probably because of Yoshitaka Amano's surreal art style. Our party doesn't have access to its normal battle commands, and is instead limited to the special "Magitek" command. When selected, it brings up a menu of subabilities.  Exploder is literal suicide, Mega Volt is weak at our current levels, and the three elemental beams can only hit one target at a time. There's literally no reason to use anything except Diffuser.  It's quite visually impressive, with lots of lasers and flashing lights. It's also stupidly powerful, enough so to wipe out the entire enemy group. But this is the intro sequence, so it's supposed to be easy. After the battle, our party receives experience and GP (money), as they do from most fights in games like this. We also get this:  Dances are used by another character that we'll get later on, and I'll explain what they do when we get access to it. For now, just know that each one is tied to a particular kind of terrain. You'd think we'd have to actually have that character in the party to learn the dance, but no: anyone can learn them. By the time we get our dancer we'll have most of the dances learned already, just from the breadth of our travels. It seems like a bit of a waste to me. In any case, we move further and are accosted by two more guards, this time with dogs to assist them.  At least, they look like dogs. Once we get into battle...  ...we can see that they look more like ghosts or shadows or something. They might be undead, but there's no way to test that at this point, and Diffuser kills them the same as everything else. Once the "dogs" are dead, the guards themselves attack, with predictable results. Moving on, we meet another set of guards and their dogs.   Here we get introduced to the concept of Pincer Attacks, and having enemies on both sides. This battle can't be fled, and Diffuser can only target the enemies on one side, so I'm forced to take two actions to win the battle. While I'm at it, check out the enemy names. Most of the enemies have nonsense names like these, probably due to translation problems. The 90s weren't a great time for translations.  Also, for demonstration purposes, here's ?????'s list of Magitek commands. Notice that she has Shockwave and Grav Bomb, which are exclusive options for her. They're not as good as Diffuser, though, so there's no reason to touch them. Moving on still further, we come across another group of guards, who've brought something new to fight us.  Turns out the locals have their own Magitek armor. They're pretty tough, and might be a threat if they were as strong as our party. But they don't, and Diffuser remains the miracle cure for every problem. Finally, after moving on, we come to the mine itself.  Espers are creatures of magic, and one was supposedly found in this town's mines (which is why our soldiers are here).  Once inside, we're subject to random encounters, and some of the monsters here caught my party from behind. A back attack lets your enemies attack first and switches your battle rows. It can be a serious problem, but this early it's barely worth mentioning.  These green dragon enemies (Aeonorts) are notable because they absorb lightning attacks, like Diffuser, meaning I need to use one of my other attacks to kill them. Fire Beam is powerful enough to one-shot them, so they're no actual threat.  Finally, at the end of the mines, we break through a gate and encounter one last guard. Rather than fight us himself, however, he runs away and sics his pet on us.    This is a gimmick boss designed to teach players about the real-time battle system. Whelk has two targets, and hurting its shell causes it to counterattack. It also withdraws its head on occasion (which I completely forgot to screenshot), during which time my only real option is to wait.  Just targeting the head, and only the head, when it's out is the key to winning the fight. (And even targeting the shell with Diffuser isn't actually that bad, since it absorbs lightning damage and thus doesn't trigger the counter.)   Whelk also has a special attack, Steam, which shoots a heart at someone, inflicting Slow status. Does any of that make sense to anyone? I don't get it. In any event, it's annoying, but not very threatening.  After taking enough damage, the head dies, and takes the shell with it. All in all, nothing terrible.   Finally, we reach the Esper, everything starts glowing blue, and we get treated to a cut scene with the color-changing Esper. (Maybe it's a bug? Who knows?)  ????? walks up to it, apparently entranced.   There are some flashes of light, and Wedge disappears, followed shortly by Vicks.   Then the Esper shoots purple lightning at the mystery girl, everything begins exploding before fading to red, and...  We're in a house. Okay, sure.
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Aug 2, 2018 00:14
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This seems different somehow. I guess it's been a while since I played.
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Aug 2, 2018 00:32
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probably just about as mechanically sound as the original release tbh
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Aug 2, 2018 00:41
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ultrafilter posted:This seems different somehow. I guess it's been a while since I played. People misremember a lot of stuff from the games they played when they were younger. Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:probably just about as mechanically sound as the original release tbh Not sure what you mean; this is the original. I know the Advance release made some pretty big changes, but this isn't it.
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Aug 2, 2018 00:50
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I look forward to later, when I can see if the
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Aug 2, 2018 00:53
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a true randomizer would randomize which stats do absolutely nothing under the hood
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Aug 2, 2018 01:09
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Maleketh posted:
Slight correction: moogles were first introduced in FF5, so in fact they had appeared in only one previous game rather than multiple games. Everything else in the update looks spot on, though!
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Aug 2, 2018 02:58
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This thing where the girl looks like a moogle was a weird design decision and I'm glad they changed it in the GBA remake.
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Aug 2, 2018 03:02
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GunnerJ posted:This thing where the girl looks like a moogle was a weird design decision and I'm glad they changed it in the GBA remake. Yeah, the yeti look is much more appropriate.
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Aug 2, 2018 03:04
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Cattail Prophet posted:Slight correction: moogles were first introduced in FF5, so in fact they had appeared in only one previous game rather than multiple games. Everything else in the update looks spot on, though! Namingway in FFIV was also apparently a moogle (or a rabbit/Ivalice moogle somehow before they became a thing)? I always saw him as a pig but I guess I was wrong?
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Aug 2, 2018 03:11
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It wasn't until I saw the FF4DS remake that I realized he's a rabbit. It makes sense in retrospect because Japanese mythology associates rabbits with the moon.
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Aug 2, 2018 03:38
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In my mind, FF6 is basically the Chrono Cross of the series. Wait! Don't crucify me yet! I mean in the sense that it's got a great graphical/musical presentation and a fundamentally decent and playable system... but the story feels like it keeps losing the thread and going off on tangents which last all of five minutes each, and it's got a huge cast most of which have near-zero plot relevance outside of the five minutes where you first encounter them. Like, in all the cast, I think you could claim something like four of them are actually seriously entangled in the plot and not just hanging around because they've got nothing better to do with their lives. And once they're recruited, it's really only a difference between whether a ninja's hitting the enemy or a teddy bear, they don't really make any difference to the quests you engage in or even really play all that differently because half of the character gimmicks and special skills you will never need or want to use. So it's a decent game, but doesn't deserve all the praise it gets. Also I'm curious to see where this randomizer is going.  At least it can't be as weird as Awful Fantasy.
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Aug 2, 2018 11:10
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Chalk me up as another person who finds this game horribly overrated. Still, it made some super interesting and aggressive changes for the era, like having a moogle main character.
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Aug 2, 2018 14:53
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came to fight the idea that ff3 is anything but perfect stayed to marvel at the purple magitechs gets me every time
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Aug 2, 2018 17:22
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theshim posted:Chalk me up as another person who finds this game horribly overrated. Still, it made some super interesting and aggressive changes for the era, like having a moogle main character. She's really not, though. She looks like an FFV moogle, but the moogles in this game were... Well, let's just say that I'm not fond of the redesign.
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Aug 4, 2018 18:16
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Mm, this is mighty different than I remember. Which version is this?
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Aug 4, 2018 19:11
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BenRGamer posted:Mm, this is mighty different than I remember. Original SNES.
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Aug 4, 2018 20:56
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Maleketh posted:Original SNES. Welp, been way too long since I played this game. But it was like one of the few SNES games I had as a kid. I'm surprised the randomizer didn't change tritoch or whelk. Is it a randomizer? Never saw this kinda thing before
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Aug 5, 2018 05:10
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Chapter 2 When we left our mystery heroine, she had exploded so hard she woke up in a house. She climbs out of bed and, lacking better options, speaks to her host.    Well, this explains her pliancy is cooperating with the soldiers.  Unfortunately, it's left her with an extremely cliche case of amnesia.  And here, finally, we are promted to give her a better name than "?????". Every character in Final Fantasy 3 has a default name, which can be changed by the player. I know that in most Let's Plays it's normal to give the audience a chance to participate in naming the characters, but for the type of LP I'm doing, I want the authenticity of the original monikers. So let's meet our first hero.   (I'm still giving the names proper capitalization, because I'm a rational human being.) While many of the protagonists in FF3 are named for real people or characters from Japanese pop culture, Riku's is, as far as I can tell, wholly original. That said, it was itself eventually referenced in both FFX (with a slightly different spelling) and Kingdom Hearts.  Our heroine remembers her own name, at least, but unfortunately she doesn't have time to remember anything else.   The guards are still a bit peeved about all those guys were murdered on our way in. Luckily, the host has our girl's back, and prompts her to follow him to the rear exit of his house. She doesn't immediately follow, however.  Do I smell treasure?  Why yes, yes I do. This cleverly hidden item is a Relic, a type of miscellaneous equipment of which all characters can equip two. The Charm Bangle reduces the rate of random encounters by half. I don't need it now (the game is still in its easy stages and I could use the money from random battles), but it's very nice to have later on. Anyway, we move on with the escape.   Unfortunately, going out the back door doesn't seem to have accomplished much, as the guards immediately spot Riku crossing the bridge. No choice but to keep running. She finishes crossing and enters another branch of the mines.  Here we see out heroine's battle menu. Every character has a different set of commands (apart from Fight, which almost every character has). Riku's second command is Steal, a straightforward action that attempts to relieve an enemy of whatever loot it's carrying. Depending on the enemy, this can range from incredibly useful to totally useless.  Her third command, however...   Pearl (called Holy in other games in the series) is a high-end spell that deals large amounts of damage to one enemy. This command allows Riku to cast it at no cost. Though I didn't manage to capture its damage output, it's easily enough to kill anything in the mines multiple times over. Small wonder the Empire wanted control of her. Riku's fourth command is blanked out for now, but will be revealed later once the mechanic comes into play.  It should also be noted that the mines have a few treasure chests scattered about. Normally you'd want to open these, but a few dungeons, such as this one, have chests whose contents become more valuable if you wait until later.  I captured this shot mostly because the lizard enemy attacks by throwing cards. I'm sure this makes sense to someone.  Eventually, we reach this bend in the path, and the guards catch up with Riku.     She's backed into a corner, where the floor collapses under her. The landing causes her to pass out, which makes it a convenient time for a flashback.      So now we know where the slave crown came from. Something tells me that this Kefka fellow might not be terribly stable.    We also get a shot of the emperor, giving an impassioned speech and eliciting gestures that are definitely not Nazi salutes. As this scene fades out, we're taken back to the old man's house in Narshe, where a new faces comes in the back door. There's only one route that goes that way; how did he miss the guards attacking Riku?    And here's our second proper party member. The old man's lines make it seem like he's a thief or something (and the game is keen to reinforce this), but his skills don't really support the role.   Meet Batora.    Batora is keen to remind everyone that he's not, in fact, a thief, and this seems to be more or less accurate.   He's not keen on Riku at the moment, but the old man points out that the Empire is likely to come to Narshe again.    In a few more lines, we're given our next major goal, but first there's the matter of an unconscious amnesiac in the mines. Batora rushes in and finds her pretty quickly, but imperial troops show up almost immediately after.  Things seem bad, but...    ...luckily, help shows up just in time, in the form of some moogles. Where Riku's design is clearly based on the moogles from Final Fantasy V, the redesigned moogles in this game look like young women. Because Japan has to make everything weird. The next battle gives you three parties (Batora and three moogles, plus two groups of four moogles each), and tasks you with keeping the enemy troops from reaching Riku. You get to switch between the parties at your leisure and move them around. This seems like a cool idea, but there's a problem: only one of the three is actually worth using.  One of the moogles in the first all-moogle group is equipped with a Cursed Shield, afflicting it with nearly every status ailment in the game. You could win with this group, but it would be unnecessarily difficult. So you'd think that maybe Batora's group would be best.  Here we can see Batora's battle commands. His second, command, Morph, turns him into a monster form to increase his damage output for a limited time. We don't have access to it right now because it needs to "charge up" by winning battles. His third command, like Riku's fourth, will crop up later, and his fourth command lets him use an item, a staple mechanic of JRPGs. In any case, this looks better. One of the moogles even has Riku's Pearl command, which you'd assume would make short work of this fight.      And you'd be wrong. The Oilfs are outright immune to pearl-elemental damage, and the Iffys have an innate reflect, which bounces the spell back at a party member. This group could win the day, but lacks a good source of damage output. The real trick is to use group three.  The first moogle in this group, Kushu, can use Magitek powers, including Diffuser. This makes pretty short work of both the regular enemies and the boss (who's so unremarkable I didn't bother getting a shot of him.)  Batora thanks the moogles, grabs Riku, and runs for the exit.   He hits a wall switch, opening a secret door that leads out of the mines.    Riku still seems unsure of her situation, but Batora promises to protect her until her memory comes back. We'll see later that he has a serious white knight complex.  Definitely not obvious foreshadowing.  At the entrance to the city, we meet this polite gentleman. There are rumors that the building behind him was supposed to be one last tutorial area, but it's not accessible. Most likely it wasn't implemented due to time constraints on the development or something similar.   Outside of Narshe, we head south, facing a few random battles along the way. It looks like the empire is still on Riku's tail, sending more armor after her, but it's all dispatched without effort.  The pair arrives at Figaro Castle, where they're accosted by the door guard, but after a moment he recognizes Batora and lets them through. Moving straight ahead into the castle brings us to the throne room, wherein we meet a man with poor fashion sense.      Turns out he's the king, and he starts talking with Batora about Riku as though she's not in the room. She takes offense.    Kouta is the king of Figaro, and his getup is apparently supposed to be a ninja's, a reference to Edge from FFII/IV. Kouta himself would later be referenced in Japanese pop culture by another orange-clad ninja.   After exchanging a few more words, Batora departs, leaving Riku and Kouta alone in the same room. (No, the guards don't count.)          Kouta does his best to hit on Riku, but the girl is having none of it. Kouta then walks out, which gives us free reign to explore the place. Out in the main hall, there are two doors leading to small rooms with shops.     The Bio Blaster and Flash are expensive consumable items. The former infects an enemy with paralytic venom, causing Stop status, while the latter dazes enemies long enough to run from battle, duplicating the Warp spell. The Edge items are used by a character we'll get down the line, but they aren't useful now. As for the treasure chests, all three contain low-grade consumables.  Heading for the west wing of the castle, we find and talk to an old woman, who gives us information on a character who definitely won't be at all important.          Dio is, of course, a reference to metal singer Ronnie James Dio who, despite being most famous in the U.S., is popular all over the world.   Yeah, definitely not foreshadowing.   With that done, we head back to the throne room. Kouta's waiting for us, but it looks like he has an imperial guest.
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Aug 6, 2018 10:13
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I don't like the look of this Dio, he seems like the sort who won't stop until he possesses the world.
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Aug 6, 2018 10:29
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BenRGamer posted:I'm surprised the randomizer didn't change tritoch or whelk. Is it a randomizer? Never saw this kinda thing before It is, but the bosses remain functionally unchanged stats and innate effects may change though, as for espers... You'll see. Everything gets recolored though,. In this case it seems the default palette leans towards purple, in the seed I played it was more blue or green NPCs will be the same by default too, but that can be changed when generating the seed. Also Maleketh, can you show the moogles and soldiers equipment? FeyerbrandX fucked around with this message at 11:16 on Aug 6, 2018 |
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Aug 6, 2018 10:51
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Cattail Prophet posted:Slight correction: moogles were first introduced in FF5, so in fact they had appeared in only one previous game rather than multiple games. Everything else in the update looks spot on, though! Dunno if I'm missing something here, but they were also in 3. Err, the other 3.
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Aug 6, 2018 17:41
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ItBreathes posted:Dunno if I'm missing something here, but they were also in 3. Err, the other 3. I think you're gonna be hard pressed to find anyone with anything approaching a clear memory of that game in the West, though, considering how few people in Europe and the US probably played it.
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Aug 6, 2018 17:44
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FeyerbrandX posted:Also Maleketh, can you show the moogles and soldiers equipment? I don't see why not. It's pretty weirdly diverse, probably because the developers never expected anyone to actually check it.    
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Aug 7, 2018 10:42
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Chapter 3 When we last left off, the king of Figaro had just had imperial visitor announced. Hopefully he'll be pleasant and not an insane clown.    Now that we have color, we can see that Kefka dresses like a Vampire LARPer, which frankly is just further evidence of his madness.    He's also either a diva or someone who enjoys throwing around his authority. Possibly both.  Kefka's laugh is honestly great and one of the things the game really got right.    In case you hadn't figured it out, he's kind of a dick.         Kouta keeps Riku hidden, but Kefka is not fooled, or doesn't care and is looking for an excuse to do something evil. Probably the latter, honestly.   After a brief exchange, Kouta takes off and tells Batora to take Riku to her room in the castle.  How about no?  Outside of specific scenes, the player's walking speed in this game is pretty fast, and there's no reason to follow Batora if you know where to go. Outpacing him is trivial...  ...at least until you get to the room and he's somehow already made it there.      Batora stops just short of telling Riku he'll protect her (again). When she expresses doubts about her role in things, he drops some exposition about Kouta, himself, and the plot in general.     Batora seems confident that Riku will find the right path, but she has doubts. Afterward, the screen fades to black, then fades back in on Kouta.   Somehow the castle, made primarily of brick and metal, is on fire. But who could have done such a thing?  Obviously.   Kefka just loves being a prick.  Kouta has a plan, though.    Kouta runs to the castle wall, whistles, and summons a trio of chocobos.   I know I'm here as a critic, but sometimes the writing is really spot-on. Mostly when it involves Kefka.   Riku and Batora make dramatic leaps onto their own mounts, then Kouta reveals his plan.       Yes, it turns out that the castle is also a desert submersible. No, it doesn't make sense.    Kekfa, of course, doesn't give up so easily, and sends two magitek armors after the heroes.  Or, you know. Ninjas. Whatever.  And here we have Kouta's battle commands. Capture is functionally an enhanced form of Riku's Steal; it has the same effect, but also includes an attack, which fits the whole ninja theme. Rage, on the other hand...  Gives you a list of every non-boss monster you've defeated and allows him to mimic one of them (in a limited capacity). He becomes uncontrollable while this is active, but some of the effects can be quite powerful.   In any event, the Sisy Roos are defeated, and the trio escapes into the desert.  Our heroine might be an idiot.  And in one sentence, we set up the next major goal: getting Riku to Banon, leader of the Returners.    Have you seen her, man? She's clearly not human. The following scene has Riku acting all angsty over her identity, which I'm skipping over because it happens like half a dozen times over the course of the game.   We're given directions for the present and given our first chance to control a chocobo, complete with revolutionary-for-the-time Mode 7 graphics.    Kouta clears out the guard (who's here to prevent you from entering the cave before the events at the castle).   The cave is filled with metal-as-gently caress bone monsters, plus some slimes and frogs. I forgot to take shots of the cave, but... it's a cave. It has some chests, but we're leaving them behind, like the ones in the Narshe mines. All in all, it's fairly nondescript.  One of Kouta's rages triggers this, L.3 Muddle. As the name implies, it inflicts confusion on any enemy whose level is a multiple of 3. This is most notable because, as a result of this, our party learns the spell as a "Lore." Like Dance, this is an ability that only applies to one character, but anyone can improve on it. Still weird.  The fields outside the cave have slime recolors (already, which is a little sad) and some tiny men. The slimes are a real pain since they're immune to Riku's Pearl attack.  We enter South Figaro and immediately catch sight of an unusual-looking... person.   Naturally, we're going to follow.    He doesn't seem willing to talk, but the fade-out means that this is obviously going to be a party member at some point.     Some kind of assassin, then. Truly the kind of hero we need.     The shops in town have a bit of new stuff. I grab some armor for the party and a weapon for Batora, since he needs some kind of offense to be relevant. Once that's done, we head out of town and go due north. This is technically optional, but it has some plot relevance and helps steer the player to the next area.   It's an unassuming little cabin.      Not real surprising, but it's good to know he's nearby.  This guy was not here when I arrived.    Surely this will not end badly. Not in a JRPG.  Also, you can sleep in the beds here for free healing. Handy if you feel the need to grind. After a good night's rest, we head east and arrive at the next dungeon.  It's a mountain. It's pretty standard, as befits an early-game dungeon with no surprises or  WHAT THE gently caress ARE THOSE? (Seriously, what are these? Their design makes zero sense.)  Looks like someone's watching us. There are several glimpses of him around the mountain.  In one of the treasure chests here, we find this. It's a ludicrously good piece of armor for this early in the game. The name implies that only Riku could use it, but that isn't the case.  Batora probably needs it the most, so he gets to be a pretty pretty princess.   Another chest has this, which allows you to always hit when using the Fight command - handy if you're blinded or the enemy has high evasion. There are rumors that persist even today which claim that evasion (and by extension blindness) does nothing in this game. These rumors are false; evasion 100% works as intended.  Oh, and I also found this earlier but forgot to equip it. Seems like a good fit for Riku.  One of the common enemies on the mountain has close to a 100% drop rate on Cards. These are a weapon for a character who won't be available for a while yet, but the frequency means that I'll have a lot to sell later on.  Finally, we run into... who the gently caress is this?  Oh, okay.     No, he definitely wasn't. He looks nothing like the other guy.  And of course he wants to fight. He even brought a pair of bears. Sure. Anyway, hoo boy. This battle. When I talk about this game's wonky design, this is a perfect encapsulation of what I mean. Just look at this:  Vargas can't be targeted while his bears are alive, but he'll attack you with physical attacks and a special move, Gale Cut, which his for over 100 damage on everyone. You can also see that Kouta is confused - the bears do that. If they hit him or Batora, it's manageable, but on Riku it can quickly turn into a death spiral as she Pearls the party to death. And this isn't even the worst of it.          Dio shows up and argues with Vargas, who blows away the rest of the group, turning it into a one-on-one match. And this is where things get truly awful, because Vargas always opens the duel by doing this:     Haze Grand deals a small amount of damage, but it turns Dio into an imp, lowering his physical stats and locking out his special commands. Imp can be healed by the Imp spell (which isn't available yet) or a Green Cherry item. If you somehow know this is coming, you can prepare for it by buying a green cherry... except that no store up to this point sells one. At this point, Vargas goes all-out, hitting you with physical attacks (often two at a time) and Gale Cut. Dio can outspeed him, but not enough to win in a straight-up fight. There are really only three options for winning. First, you can get super-lucky and block Haze Grand (I'm not sure it's actually possible, but maybe?). Second, you grind like a madman before the fight so that Dio comes in sufficiently leveled to beat Vargas fairly. (Hell, no.) Third, you can do what I did, and rely on desperation.   When a character is sufficiently low on HP, any regular attack has a 1/16 chance of becoming a desperation attack, a unique, powerful move that can swing the tide of battle. The concept was revisited in FFVII in the form of Limit Breaks, but in this game, you can go through the whole thing and never see one. Dio's Tiger Break deals over 1,000 damage and is easily enough to take out Vargas. The hard part is getting Dio to low enough health and having it go off, all without Vargas landing a killing blow. It's a massive pain in the rear end, and I don't doubt that this fight ended a lot of runs back in the day.          After a heartfelt reunion between the two brothers (and a strangely anachronistic line from Riku), Dio joins the party. I'll be showing him off later.  You know, once I can get him de-imped.
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Aug 13, 2018 10:36
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Maleketh posted:
Wow, yeah, I literally don't think I've ever seen those in the game. I think to hazard a guess they'd be from Owzer's mansion.
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Aug 13, 2018 10:52
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PurpleXVI posted:Wow, yeah, I literally don't think I've ever seen those in the game. I think to hazard a guess they'd be from Owzer's mansion. Who to the what now?
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Aug 13, 2018 14:23
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PurpleXVI posted:Wow, yeah, I literally don't think I've ever seen those in the game. I think to hazard a guess they'd be from Owzer's mansion. Pretty sure those are never in the game at all, it's probably an unused sprite, but it looks like a fishdragonbook. It almost looks like a fish version of chardanook or whatever the boss is from owzer's mansion, possibly in world of ruin?
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Aug 13, 2018 19:49
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PurpleXVI posted:Wow, yeah, I literally don't think I've ever seen those in the game. I think to hazard a guess they'd be from Owzer's mansion. It is from there, but I don't have any better answer on what it is. I've always interpreted it as a sea cucumber with women's lips pulling out from behind a picture. This still isn't a good answer but the best I have.
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Aug 13, 2018 20:45
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Who cares where that weird thing came from? It lives in that cave.
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Aug 13, 2018 20:56
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Wow, that Vargas fight might actually be more obnoxious than one that I had. Vargas was mostly unremarkable as far as I remember, but the Sabin replacement was a berserker.
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Aug 13, 2018 22:21
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I guess nostagia and false memories from my past have changed my perception of FF3 throughout the years. That weird thing of course comes from the cave how could you forget the weird monster in the caves?
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Aug 14, 2018 00:16
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I don't see whats so weird about those monsters, even the game clearly states they are ladies.
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Aug 14, 2018 05:41
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Culka posted:I don't see whats so weird about those monsters, even the game clearly states they are ladies. This is another one of those things I'm chalking up to translation wonkiness.
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Aug 14, 2018 19:15
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Chapter 4 Now that Vargas is dead and gone, we have to go through the last bits of Mt. Koltz. While I'm here, how about we take a look at one of Kouta's new Rages?  These are the things we fought while escaping Figaro Castle.  Innate Imp and Reflect. Welp. The exit isn't far, luckily, and from the outside it's a pretty straight shot to the Returners' Hideout. Fortunately, it's here, short on healing and low on HP, that I remember that those horrors from the mountain caves have a pretty good Rage.   Group Hug summons a zombified woman to heal the entire party. This is useful for a very large part of the game.   At long last, we're here.   A soldier leads us to Banon himself. His outfit leaves something to be desired.    Well, drat. The news causes Riku to freak out a bit.  Yes, this is what one typically says to a traumatized girl.      Banon tells use the story of Pandora's Box, but all the talking exhausts the old man, and he heads to bed. I have to say, I'm not really impressed by the Returners' "mentor."  After a transition, we're given control of Riku as she climbs out of bed. The game doesn't say it, but we need to talk to our party members.      Batora relates his sob story, which doesn't exactly line up with what we learn about him later.    Dio tells us that his brother is a decent guy, then laughs about it, probably because he, like us, knows better. Dude's a pervert.    Kouta informs us that this is ultimately Riku's decision. I'll take that to heart.  Now that we've spoken to everyone important, the door guard lets us out to talk to Banon.   No. No. NO.  Riku rationalizes it, but I'm actually just doing it because being unhelpful results in better prizes.  Riku makes way as Banon barges in.           Batora leaves the party to undertake a solo mission.       So here's the next leg of the game: travel down the river.   For being a dick to Banon, a soldier gives us this relic. Despite what he says, it doesn't "keep us safe" at all - it gives the user dual-wielding skills. Riku doesn't remotely need it, but down the line it might be handy.  Since someone will want to know: Banon's got some impressive gear. His weapon in particular is good, but he'll never actually use it.      Oh, yeah, there's a gimmick at play here too: if Banon goes down, it's an instant game over.  Water-walking dogs. Sure. Anyway, here we have Dio's powers. He's kind of a gimmick himself, as both his special commands perform two actions in one.   L5DAcid performs L.5 Doom (kills enemies with a levels that are multiples of 5), followed by Acid Rain (damage and seizure - continual HP loss) on all enemies. Decent when L.5 Doom works, but otherwise unimpressive. His second power is generally much better.     OdiShoc summons the Norse god Odin, who simply kills everything facing you. Anything that survives (whether through luck or immunity) is then subjected to Shock Wave, a moderately powerful attack. This power makes Dio the best character, bar none, for fighting random battles.  <--Banon's commandsAs for Banon, he clearly trained the Brothers Figaro, as he possesses Kouta's Rage command and Dio's L5DAcid command. The Lady Rage is his go-to ability when I play, as it helps keep him alive despite his fragility.   The river's other gimmick is that you move automatically until you reach a fork, where you can direct your raft. There are two branches, and left is the way to go both times. Another enemy type found here is the Inbuc, a kind of wyvern. I tried killing them off with Riku's Pearl, but I completely forgot:  They have innate Reflect.   Well, gently caress. Sorry, Banon.  Here's a shot of the Shock Wave part of Dio's OsiShoc attack. It's here only for sample purposes, however.   Because the Inbucs are susceptible to L.5 Doom.  And yes, this is another free Lore. We also got a new Dance from the river, which we still cannot use.  Finally, near the end, we run across a green octopus.     Oh, my bad. I meant a purple octopus who likes to quip. Apart from his one-liners, the fight against him is entirely unremarkable. Between Dio's OdiShoc and Riku's Pearl, he goes down pretty quickly.      A what now? This line is probably in reference to his special commands, but no actual "Blitz" command exists in-game.    Dio jumps into the water for no apparent reason.      Nope. Instead he flies out of the water and into the sky.     Dio floats off to the left, while the raft goes to the right.      And here we are. Since I'm not allowing reader participation in naming characters, I'll throw you folks a bone here: Which scenario should I tackle first? Or, as the game puts it:  (No this doesn't make a lick of difference in the long run, but it's something.) I'll take votes until Friday or so.
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Aug 20, 2018 10:44
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This game balance is all over the place. Go from left to right: Batora first
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Aug 20, 2018 14:19
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Reading this LP when I have no idea what vanilla FF6 is like is, um. An experience? I'm enjoying it a lot.
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Aug 20, 2018 14:55
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| # ? Apr 28, 2024 14:53 |
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Riku Last so Kouta gets all the rages from the other paths.
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Aug 20, 2018 19:40
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